Hope, they say, is not a strategy.
Yet those of us who love to create know that strategies, actions and intentions do exist – practical strategies that bring us closer to producing the kinds of results that others might see as “magic.”
According to Angeles Arrien, our capacity to enact magic lies in the power of our communication.
Great teachers in the word’s wisdom traditions locate simple everyday magic in skillful timing, clear communication and keen awareness of the context in which we are taking action.
What, then, does it mean to be “doing magic on purpose”?
I have come to notice in the past few weeks that, more often than not, I am missing one of those three critical ingredients in my own action day-to-day.
For example,
I have a desire to improve the financial returns in my corporate training business. Ready to play bigger, I make a decision to invest in a high-level sponsorship at an event… that doesn’t target a corporate audience. The people who did attend the event were great and I made a lot of wonderful connections – some of which may last a lifetime.
These connections may lead to juicy collaborations down the road…
Yet the investment did not produce a large financial gain. I am left with a slight doubt about the power of my offering, still reluctant to admit that my initial intuition about the lack of contextual fit may have been right.
Another example,
I have a desire to attend a large international festival at the end of the summer. I take an intention to buy tickets around the initial date of sale. Yet I am not one hundred per cent clear about the desire, and hedge a bit at the moment I am invited to put the money down.
The tickets sell out, and I am left feeling irritated that there aren’t enough to go around…
Yet in the back of my mind, I know that I didn’t bring my full clarity to the endeavor in a timely fashion.
I offer these reflections not to put myself on the spot as a poor magician, nor to seek sympathy. Rather, I offer them in order to provide a few examples of the subtlety that these “mis-steps” can involve.
To be sure, I am good at what I do. I get great results in my business, most of the time.
Yet if I’m really honest with myself, I can see and feel the level-up that is possible. And, if I’m really attentive, I can catch the moments where I don’t actually take it.
Perhaps you can relate?
This week I invite you to consider the question: what changes would you need to make to really be doing magic on purpose in your own work and life?
In your movement practice,
Can you hone the communication between your mind, your feelings and your body in order to produce the precise results you desire? For example, in order to execute a difficult yoga posture to the best of your ability… how would you have to listen? How would you offer clarity in your communication with yourself? What would you have to admit, in order to be in perfect alignment with your body (the context) in the moment of execution? And what role would skillful timing play?
Precision. Power. Mastery.
How can you build a trusting and reliable relationship between you and your body, starting today?
In life,
Take some time to take stock of the “mis-steps” you may have been hiding from yourself. Which of your thoughts, feelings or actions have come from hope – rather than skillful, clear intention – in the past few months? If you find examples, first of all, don’t beat yourself up! Then, choose one thing to hone in the next week – timing, clarity, awareness of context… or something else that would make a big difference for you.
It can be as difficult as a difficult conversation with a key stakeholder in your world… or as simple (but not easy) as a candid confession to yourself about something you’ve been overlooking of late.
Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that you wanted to become a better magician this week…
Let’s say that you wanted to do an experiment in conscious abundance…
How would you dare to begin?
Doing it with you,
